Automatic alignment of a contrast enhancement system

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for insuring the proper alignment of a detected vein pattern and a projected vein pattern are disclosed. The apparatus enhances the visual appearance of veins so that an error that can lead to improper patient care or injury can be avoided.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/215,713, filed Jun. 27, 2008, which claims priority on U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/937,618, filed Jun. 28, 2007, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An apparatus and method for insuring the proper alignment of a detected vein pattern and a projected vein pattern in a apparatus that enhances the visual appearance of veins so that an error that can lead to improper patient care or injury can be avoided.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known in the art to use an apparatus to enhance the visual appearance of the veins and arteries in a patient to facilitate insertion of needles into those veins and arteries as well as other medical practices that require the identification of vein and artery locations. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,969,754 and 6,556,858 incorporated herein by reference as well as publication entitled “The Clinical Evaluation of Vein Contrast Enhancement”. Luminetx is currently marketing such a device under the name “Veinviewer Imaging System” and information related thereto is available on their website, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The Luminetx Vein Contrast Enhancer (hereinafter referred to as LVCE) utilizes a light source for flooding the region to be enhanced with near infrared light generated by an array of LEDs. A CCD imager is then used to capture an image of the infrared light reflected off the patient. The resulting captured image is then digitally enhanced and then projected by a visible light projector onto the patient in a position that must be closely aligned with position of the captured image. The practitioner uses this projected image to determine the position in which to insert a needle. Should the image be misaligned, the patient can be injured.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a vein contrast enhancer.

FIG. 2 is a representation of a patient's arm.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a laser contrast enhancer

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1, a typical embodiment of a vein contrast enhancer (VCE) 100 contains a camera 101 which is used to capture an image of a patient's body 105, a processing system (not shown) that enhances the image captured by the camera to highlight the positions of veins, and a projector 102 that shows an image of the enhanced vein pattern back onto the patient's body 105. Since the camera and projector are physically separate devices they reach the patient's body from different source points along different paths 103, 104. In some embodiments, the paths are made coaxial within the body of the VCE, however at some point the paths are separate since the devices (camera and projector) are physically separate devices. Since the purpose of a VCE is to allow the practitioner to insert a needle into the highlighted vein, it is critically important that the projected image and the actual vein location be aligned. Typically this alignment is done as a separate step in the use of the VCE. A card with a known pattern is placed with the viewing/projecting field of the VCE. This card has a florescent material applied to it so that when it is struck by green light, it emits infrared light that can be seen by the camera. This image is used to align the VCE.

This invention describes methods for achieving this alignment without requiring the operator to take a separate step.

Referring to FIG. 2, a representation of the patient's arm 201 is shown along with several veins. A bounding box is shown around a single vein 200. In FIG. 3, a schematic representation of the bounded area of the single vein is shown 305. Typically, the enhancement image will light up the area around the vein and will be dark on the vein. When properly aligned, the bright part of the image 300 will have edges that properly align with the edges of the vein 303, 304. As previously described, the VCE will typically have an alignment mode wherein a known pattern, typically presented on an alignment card, will be placed in front of the VCE and an alignment will be performed. This alignment can either be automatically performed by the VCE or manually performed by the operator. The weakness of this kind of implementation is that it relies on the expectation that the alignment will be maintained over time. If the alignment should shift, patient injury can occur.

In a typical VCE, an infrared light source and a camera that is sensitive only to infrared light is used to detect the vein position. Furthermore, the projected image is often green in color to insure that the light from the projector is ignored since the camera, is sensitive only to light near the infrared region. This selectivity can be implemented either with filters or with selectively sensitive camera elements.

Referring back to FIG. 3, in a typical LCE, the camera, by design, is blind to the projected light. In our invention, the camera is by design, able to selectively see the projected light. In a preferred embodiment, a multi-color capable projector is used. As usual, green is used to fill the area outside of the vein 300. That green projection goes to the edges of the vein position 303, 304 and the vein area itself is left dark. A camera that is sensitive to red and infrared light is used in this embodiment. In addition to the green fill, red lines are drawn at the edges of the veins 303, 304. Since the camera can see these red lines, the image enhancement software can look to see if the red lines are at the proper position and if needed automatic alignment can be performed. An alternative embodiment would be to paint a red line 306 down the middle of the vein position. An alternative embodiment would be to paint some pattern of red light over a desired portion of the vein.

Typically the cameras used in an LCE are monochrome and unable to discriminate between light of different wavelengths. Depending on the sensitivity of the camera and the brightness of the projector compared to the infrared flood lighting provided by the LCE, various techniques can be used to aid the camera in the detection of the red lines. One method is to simply look for the brightening caused by the addition of the red lines to the reflected infrared light. A second method is to periodically turn off the infrared lighting such that only ambient infrared and the projected red are seen by the camera. This can make it easier for the system to detect the red lines.

Although we've described the invention using red and green lights, various combinations of colors can be used. Red and infrared light are known in the art to be useful for vein detection. Any combinations of colors of shorter wavelengths can be used for projection and alignment images as long as the camera selected is properly selected or filtered to achieve the desired discrimination between wavelengths. Furthermore, while discrimination between projection, detection and alignment signals in the preferred embodiment has been described using different wavelengths to separate the signals, in an embodiment with less freedom of projected color, time division can be used where the projected image is shown most of the time and the alignment image is shown interspersed on a lower duty cycle basis. Properly implemented, the alignment image will be quite visible to the VCE's camera, but invisible to the operator of the VCE.

Projectors in VCEs can be either monochrome (e.g., projecting green only) or multicolor (e.g., projecting RGB). The advantage of a monochrome implementation is that since an array of single color LEDs can be used in place of white bulbs and a color wheel typically found in a multicolor projector the system can be of lower cost, generate less heat and have higher reliability. In such an embodiment, the time division scheme describe above would be appropriate. In this monochrome configuration, an alternative embodiment would be to add a smaller array of a second color of LEDs (i.e., red). This alignment array can be smaller than the projection array in that it doesn't need to be visible to the operator, just to the camera. The projection LEDs and the alignment LEDs could then be time multiplexed as previously described. 

We claim:
 1. An vein imaging and alignment system, for use in vein imaging to ensure the proper alignment of a detected vein pattern and a visible projection of the vein pattern, said imaging alignment system comprising: means for illuminating a field of view with a first wavelength of infrared light, to create an image contrast formed by differential amounts of absorption and reflection by the veins of the vein pattern and the surrounding tissue therein; an alignment card positioned in the field of view, said alignment card comprising a material formed into a pattern, said material configured to emit a second wavelength of light when exposed to a visible light at a third wavelength; a camera configured to capture said image contrast of said reflected first wavelength of infrared light from the field of view; and a projector, said projector configured to project said captured image contrast onto the field of view using said visible light at said third wavelength; said camera configured to capture said second wavelength of light emitted by said pattern of material, and to capture said visible light at said third wavelength reflected from said pattern of material, said camera further configured to distinguish said wavelength of visible light at said third wavelength reflected by said pattern of material, from said second wavelength of light emitted by said pattern of material; said projector comprising means for image processing configured to utilize said distinction between said reflection of said projected alignment card pattern at said third wavelength of light captured by said camera, and said second wavelength of emitted light from said alignment card pattern also captured by said camera, to align said projected image with said reflected image contrast at said first wavelength of infrared light.
 2. The system according to claim 1 wherein said material of said alignment card pattern comprises a fluorescent material.
 3. The system according to claim 1 wherein said alignment card pattern comprises a known pattern.
 4. The system according to claim 1 wherein said third wavelength of light comprises a green wavelength of light.
 5. The system according to claim 4 wherein said projector is configured to project said green light to fill the area in the field of view outside of the veins of the vein pattern, up to the edges of the veins.
 6. The system according to claim 1 wherein said second wavelength of light comprises a red wavelength.
 7. A vein contrast enhancer, for use in vein imaging and for ensuring the proper alignment of a vein pattern, detected as an image contrast reflected from a field of view, and a projection of the image contrast onto the field of view, said vein contrast enhancer comprising: a light source configured to emit a first wavelength of infrared light onto the field of view, to create an image contrast formed by differential absorption and reflection of said first wavelength of infrared light by the veins of the vein pattern and the surrounding tissue therein; an alignment card positioned within the field of view and comprising a material formed into a pattern, said material configured to emit a second wavelength of light when exposed to a visible light at a third wavelength; a camera, said camera configured to capture said image contrast of said reflected first wavelength of infrared light from the field of view; a projector, said projector configured to project said captured image contrast onto the field of view using said visible light at said third wavelength, said camera configured to capture said second wavelength of light emitted by said pattern of material, and to capture said visible light at said third wavelength reflected from said pattern of material, said camera further configured to distinguish said wavelength of visible light at said third wavelength reflected by said pattern of material, from said second wavelength of light emitted by said pattern of material; and wherein said projector is configured to perform image processing, with said projector configured to utilize said distinction between said reflection of said projected alignment card pattern at said third wavelength of light captured by said camera, and said second wavelength of emitted light from said alignment card pattern also captured by said camera, to align said projected image with said reflected image contrast.
 8. The vein contrast enhancer according to claim 7 wherein said material of said alignment card pattern comprises a fluorescent material.
 9. The vein contrast enhancer according to claim 8 wherein said alignment card pattern comprises a known pattern.
 10. The vein contrast enhancer according to claim 9 wherein said one or more selective wavelengths of visible light comprises a green wavelength of light.
 11. The vein contrast enhancer according to claim 10 wherein said projector is configured to project said green light to fill in the field of view outside of the veins of the vein pattern, up to the edges of the veins.
 12. The vein contrast enhancer according to claim 11 wherein said second wavelength of light comprises a red wavelength of light.
 13. The vein contrast enhancer according to claim 12 wherein said source of infrared light is a light source from the group of light sources consisting of a laser; and a light emitting diode (LED). 